CoActionDrama

Physical Description

Maston is an earth like planet orbiting within the commonly accepted biosphere for its sun, which is a yellow main sequence star with an age of about ½ of its expected lifespan.  Maston has an iron core, generating an 6µTesla field, with North commonly defined.  The world has days of about 24 earth hours, defined as hours and minutes in game terms of these units, and orbits its sun, with two moons, He and She, once every 370 days.  Seasons depend on habitat, but are generally four, with winter solstice the major holiday of the year.  The axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of 22.7° to the plane of the ecliptic, and the artic and antarctic circles are at these latitudes as a result.  Weather is highly variable across the surface of the planet, and some 68% of the surface is water covered.  The highest mountain is 34,000 feet at the peak, the deepest valley is 200 feet below mean sea level.  The deepest maritime trench is 50,000 feet below sea level.  The planet is some 7600 miles in radius, and this gives a little over 23,000 miles in circumference.

History

Recorded history starts a short time ago, no more than 3,000 years, but tales of the world go back some 10,000 years. Maston is divided into six continents, two of which have been inhabited since any kind of record, spoken or written began, and one which was investigated some 100 years ago. The two well known continents are known simply as the West and the East, and the new world is east of the easternmost land.

The player characters in any campaign start in the West, and it is to this place that we shall pay the most attention. The East is a mysterious place, and its inhabitants are aggressive and reckless, (from the West’s’ point of view), as even the hardiest of adventurers from the West would not have risked their lives to sail beyond the Eastern sea and the edge of the world. Thus those in the West know nothing of the new world, and the East does not see fit to share this information with them, concealing it for themselves in pursuit of riches. The West is a vast land connected to the East via a land bridge in the far north, a dangerous and treacherous crossing even in high summer undertaken only by the foolhardy, and the sea routes to East are equally dangerous, because a ship must be kept within sight of land if it is not to be irrevocably lost, the land bridge is that land, and sight of it for even the keenest eye is some 20 miles atop the lookout, well within reach of the icebergs and other troubles.

The West is therefore more or less self sufficient, though there are many wild places within it. Its vastness has certainly not all been explored, and places abound from the mountains to the plains that are fundamentally unexplored by the major part of the human population. Farming is known and exploited, and is beginning to have an impact on the forests, thought this is slight at this time. It is still a matter of pride for the rich that they never dine on beef or mutton.

Kingdoms are numerous in the West, with many barely stretching beyond the borders of their major towns. A few notable kingdoms, of considerable size, are listed below, with an extremely brief synopsis of their current behaviour and outlook.

The Northen Realms

Feria

The northern most kingdom, they know the distress of the sun disappearing for weeks at a time in the winter, and the reappearance of the sun produces a marked celebration. Because the year is not clearly delineated, soothsayers, (wannabe magicians who train themselves in the lore of the world), determine when that day shall be, and often save themselves embarrassment by claiming there is a dark portent if the feast has begun a day early. The king of Feria is Marcus the third, and he embodies the boisterous joy of his people. He is a pale unsophisticated man, who with beer and blonde, buxom wenches for the winter is satisfied to take meat and debauch his way to the spring. He is however a fearsome fighter, who during the lighter summer will drift off into the woods with a few of his men and hunt boar, usually unarmed except for a spear, and not even that sometimes. There are usually some injuries and deaths, families are large, not only because of all the debauching, but because young men often do not survive to their twenties. Women are no less aggressive, but their fecundity is legendary, and though they will not battle during the first trimester of pregnancy, they have been known to go into battle besides their husbands and lovers with hugely distended belly and the scream of a woman in need of fresh strawberries in midwinter. More than one child has bee born on the battle field, and they are usually celebrated, if they and the mother survive, to become the fiercest and most brutal warriors, pursued from a young age by women for their qualities of robustness and wrath. In fact, Ferian society has strict codes about such behaviour after one particularly desperate woman kidnapped a child (Serma), whose sires had been born on the battlefield for seven generations, raised him in secret and then married him even before he had hit puberty. Without the balancing influence of society, such as it is, he grew into a complete monster, (believing that his parents had abandoned him), and nearly took the throne. He is often cited as the reason that the other kingdoms further south regularly band together to put down any ambitions by the Ferians of empire-ship, though when this means war it can virtually empty the south of able-bodied men. The current king however, for all his faults, sees that this is of benefit to no one, and does his best to maintain peace, and even lend assistance to the south, as far as is possible. Ferians are, however, so well adapted to their lives that they do not fare well in the extreme south, as the desert dries them out and slows them down. Other creatures that also live in the dark north do not fare well in the south, and are regarded as myth and legend, but the Ferians know that the creatures are real, and dangerous, and their occasional encounters give rise to real horror stories of giants, trolls and ogres, all of whom overheat should they come down from the icy mountains of the north.

The Land

West of Feria is The Land. This mysterious dark land, almost completely above the artic circle, is bordered by a high fence of logs. No-one ever seems to maintain it, no-one goes in, in fact there is no gate, and no-one comes out. The fence is guarded every hundred yard for thousands of miles, by people or creatures wrapped in white cloth, giving them an almost shapeless, appearance. Anyone trying to scale the fence is dealt with brutally by the fence guards, no-one has returned from the fence in living memory. At a high level Feria and Daria have their own laws prohibiting even the attempt of entry to what they know colloquially as The Forbidden Land, also punishable by death. What goes on in the land no-one knows, even who lives there has passed beyond living memory, but legends abound among the older people, particularly when the young wish to travel in the north. No-one in his right mind travel anywhere near The Land. It is so scary, that it is not even a scary bedtime story. The Land is there, and is more or less ignored by the other kingdoms, apart from keeping people away from it. The notable exception to all of this are the foresters. They are the ones, both from Daria and Feria, who keep people away. They will make any claims they see fit, “This is the kings lands and you are trespassing”, “The great chasm is nearby”, anything to keep curious people away. It works.

Daria

To the southwest of Feria, and with considerable coastline, Darians are natural seafarers where they abut the coast, and traders where they do not. Although hardy, they do not have the warlike instincts of the Ferians, or the relaxed attitude of the southern kingdoms, such as Noshi to the south.  Because of the long thin shape of Daria, the weather and temperament of the people varies greatly depending on where you live. Darians are, in the main, a highly active people, and depend on their trade for most of their needs. They have few natural resources exploited. In fact, Darians, who are extremely literate, most can speak two or three languages in addition to the common tongue of the West, are much involved in paperwork, and invented money, paper money (the Schilling), that can be exchanged anywhere in the west for gold, for a price. Thus things are more expensive in Daria if they are bought in gold. All transactions are taxed by the crown, (it doesn’t matter who is on the throne really, the Darian government is run by bureaucrats, and has been for the last 300 years), which means that if a man has no money he pays no tax. The government goes to great lengths to ensure that citizens are honest about their taxes. Although tax avoidance is acceptable, tax evasion is not, and in previous years particularly difficult offenders have been hung for it. (After lengthy trials, indeed one offender died of old age while in custody, but his trial continued for another three years, fortunately he was found guilty).

Darians are the followers of one God, Dera, and temples to him are to be found in any large town, though worshipping points are also found even in the smallest village, usually in or around the blacksmiths. Dera is not a very commanding presence, but he does demand, according to the priests, who are usually pretty corpulent, a tithe for worship. This tell you everything you need to know about Darian society really.

Macron

South of Feria and east of Daria, Macron is a classical feudal society, like Simanith to the south, knight and ladies abound in a bucolic fantasy of heroes and the femme fatale. However, all is not as it would appear to casual observer. Unlike other kingdoms, which are peppered with smaller kingdom and city natures, Macron is a unified territory rules with an iron fist by the self styled Emperor. This emperor, the current incumbent is Richard III, rules from Promi. The only challenge to his rule sits in Fridia, a city ruled by the “Queen of the West”, currently Gimima XIV. Although to the outside, Macron represents itself as one nation-state, the two factions have been at loggerheads for so long that diplomatic missions and tourneys are more the norm than outright war. The edges of the constant skirmishes can be very nasty indeed when the wrong rulers are in power though, Gimima is wise enough to see that Richard is quite a good ruler though, and while on the surface she argues with him quite a bit, for the sake of appearances, she defers to his judgement frequently on the ground that wisdom is wisdom whence it comes, and he is not hacking off bits of her territory, or indeed even making an issue of it.

The two rulers are happy to maintain the status quo, though with the death of the hereditary Champion of the West, and no heir, that situation could change soon, as the champion has quite an influence on the Queen.

The peasants and serfs of Macron are generally in a better state than in Simanith, for example, they are pressed into service in the event of war, and it is in the interest of the Lords and Ladies of the realms to keep them in good shape. They are not fierce fighters, they do not have the rage of the Ferians, but they are generally intelligent, indeed Macron is the only nation-state in the west to advocate teaching for all its children, and as a result nearly half the population can read, and it is for this reason that Macron is the tongue of the west, chosen as the lingua franca because you can always find a speaker of it somewhere if you have to. Macron is regarded as sophisticated and well off, though in reality it is no richer than any other state, because it can afford to support and pay more sophisticated trades, such as teachers, than any other kingdom. Although it has absorbed the Darian way of taxation, the citizenry is among the most highly taxed specifically to pay for public services. Knights etc are expected to fund their activities from their own coffers, and this makes them a productive part of the community with an active interest in exports and prices. Although exports are supposed to deal exclusively in gold, much Darian currency changes hands in the markets of Macron, and the beginnings of international currency trading is burgeoning as result. New economic forces are coming into being.

The God of the Macrons is Crhon. He has two faces, one stern and unforgiving, and the other kindly and gentle. This gentle face is the public face of Crhon, (pronounced like a cough), and his temples are frequently places of great beauty, caryatids of grace and delicate aspect hold up the glassed roofs which are decorated with breathtaking scenes from the heavens. Chron’s stern face is shown in his demand for a vow of poverty from his priests and priestesses, and even more controversially, their vow of chastity. While other religions allow, and even encourage marriage and procreation, Crhon believes that this distracts from the important work of attending to education and the needs of the poor. As a result, Chron’s followers are extremely dedicated, but this does not stop speculation about what goes on in the mixed sex monasteries, which are places of peace and simplicity, where the penitent may retire from the world to consider their sins.

 Another note, although Crhon is not a distant god, his is not ever present either, and this distance has allowed a schism in the church. About four hundred years ago a ruler came to the throne who interpreted Chron’s word, act of sheer bravery in itself, as saying that priests and priestesses could marry, etc. Largely this interpretation was driven by a priestess who had taken his fancy, and to be fair, she was deeply in love with the young king, but devoted to her faith. He rewrote the Books of Crhon, (all gods have a book, but its significance is greater here than anywhere else), to say this more clearly, as the general population obviously could not make out the detail married his priestess and sired many children. They were all very happy until Crhon manifested himself, for quite another matter, and the king, being a bit overconfident by this time, presented himself to Crhon, and told him of his “adjustments” Crhon made his displeasure felt, and just make sure there were no further schisms, explained it in detail to the entire population. That the separated church still exists is a testament to human bravery and to the human penchant for reinterpreting what is said to it. Crhon should not have said the words “I don’t mind disagreements”. Because he does. It should be noted that in general worship of Gods is ecumenical, but it depends on the local conditions.

Simanith

South of Daria is Simanith, and residing within are a more staid, reserved people who for the most part look down on Darians for their worldliness, and on the Ferians for their barbarity, and some say their jollity. Their God is Asquine, the story of how Simanith came to be so named has passed beyond living memory. Asquine is the closest to christio-centric view of god, he does not often appear to his people, puts up with atheists in order to maintain his privacy, and answers prayers rarely if ever. His people however, are required to worship once a week, and take a day of rest, (Darians on the others hand are expected to work towards riches constantly), they are expected to be humble and peaceful. This does not preclude worldly pursuits, but does mean that Simanithis can be terribly pious. They do, however have some of the fiercest of the modern knights, in fact even in this modern age there are Paladins, the supposedly purest of the pure. Simanith is a land of castles and ladies in distress, with knights lining up to rescue them and prove their prowess on the field of battle. It’s all very tiresome after a while, and would be a lot less so if some of the old barons actually took care of their serfs. Clerics have a particularly hard time in Simanith if they rely on prayer for miracles and so forth.

Simanith is the largest country in the West and is marked by disputes over territory by kinglets, barons and so forth. Hardly a week goes by without some new declaration of independence by somebody with a castle and a few starved serfs to call their own. The king takes care of this by ignoring it. Simanith is a large place and his army and knights would never stop running around chasing these problems, and besides few of these Kingdoms last, because bandits and rivals generally find a way of spoiling the party. Even some of the surviving kings eventually get fed up, swear loyalty and pay taxes like everyone else when they find out that the real work of kingship is in the detail. Brutal kings are put down firmly.

The Southern Realms

Noshi

Because of Noshis’ geography there is a marked difference in the weather and temperament of the people. A range of mountains in the north, abutting Simanith, block the cold northerlies breezing down the plains, and force the air up in the crags where it condenses to provide rain most of the year round in that part of the country. Having rained itself out, this weather system then turns dry about 100 miles south of the mountains as the southerlies take over the now becalmed weather system. In addition the equator approaches, and this provides even days and nights and heat all the year around. These are the lands of philosophy. Encouraged by easy crops from the north, where there are few towns, because who wants to live in the rain all the time, to the semi tropical zone and to the dry zone further south, the Noshiites live a generally peaceful life in sun-baked houses of white stone, their black robes swishing in the dawn and dusk when most activity takes place. Towns seem almost deserted in the heat of the day, a few flies lazily buzzing around while the populace shelter from the sun in their homes or their coffee houses, drinking the thick black, bitter syrup that marks the producer of the bean in the south. The three major cities of Noshi all reside on the edge of the Shi Sea, the great bay demarking the transition between the northern and southern part of the continent. Daska straddles the Goonang River which has its source in the north in those mountains so well fed by rain, and which stretches the length of the country. Imala is west of that by some 200 miles, fed also by a river which arrives from the west, the Tansin originates in Homanta, and is the subject of some contention between the two countries. Seria is the third major city to the east of Daska, and fed by a tributary of the Goonang, and also an underground source which provides wells.

The Noshiites have a Goddess, Shi, (whence named the sea), who is active in the world. She arranges marriages, and grants boons in the most active way possible. No-one in Noshi is an atheist, if only because she manifests herself so often. Priestesses rule the church, and they have considerable power over the monarchy, which has been weak for several hundred years. The government is run by ministers, and is in fact vaguely democratic, provided you are not a slave, mad, or a woman, (only men are fit for the philosophical imperatives implicit in choosing a government, according to the men, according to the women, only men sit around all day drinking coffee and smoking talking about nothing, in fact, most Noshi men are fierce fighters who will repel invaders at the drop of a hat with their curved swords. They are also exceedingly polite to each other), you can vote, or stand for parliament, if you can get a petition of one hundred people to stand for you and say you are suitable, you are in. The Noshi parliament is large. Shi takes a very dim view of the Noshi attitude towards women, who are owned by their men, but men have no other property apart from their weapons, and what little money the women give them. The men have no rights over the person of their women, or their possessions, and though they may own several at once, Noshi women do not enter into group marriage arrangements. If they are dissatisfied with a man, they will usually find a woman of lesser rank to marry him and divorce him herself. Parliament is a way of keeping the men busy, and women pray weekly at the temple that this remains so. It has to be noted that the women do all the washing, cleaning, cooking etc. Any man seeking to do these things may be looked down upon by his fellow men, but is highly regarded by women, as long as he can still fight. Women who fight are just weird, and obviously want to be men.

Homanta

Keeps peace with Noshi because of the fighting prowess of their men, but otherwise substantially the same in terms of culture, outlook, politics etc. In fact it is said that in times past Homanta was part of a greater country call Homantashi, which stretched from side to side of the continent. The two countries separated when the Goddess of the Homanta fell out with Shi over some Goddess thing. Deeper philosophers say that Shi took the name of her sister away in recompense for some transgression the younger had committed upon the elder, Shi, and the conflict, which is but a moment in God time, continues on Maston to this day. The Goddess of the Homanta, who is known the world over as just The Goddess, which hacks all the other gods and priests off no end, is also a meddler, but allows greater power for the priests than her sister. The climate is slightly more temperate, and cities, of which there are many, bustle with activity. Trade routes are many, and the yearly cattle market is the biggest on the continent.